Business Promotional Items - How to Stimulate Word of Mouth AdvertisingWritten by Cindy Carrera
If promotional items you give out end up in attic or shoved in back of a desk drawer, they are probably not doing what they are supposed to be doing. However, if items you passed out to clients and customers are being seen again and again, chances are, word-of-mouth advertising is stimulating your business. With media (radio, televisions and newspaper), messages can come and go. But, exposure promotional items can give equals longevity. While there is no real scientific way to measure how many impressions an item can receive in its lifetime, we know that it works and ultimately gets well over its money's worth. I used to work at a radio station that passed out license plates. We had a very fun logo- and still after ten years of being on air, they are a sought out item. We began to limit number that were handed out at live action broadcasts, and that drew people to event after event. Everywhere you drive in our area, you are sure to see a dozen or so cars with Froggy 101 license plates on commute. This may draw people to flip on station to see what's playing. With amount of impressions they get, these 'mini-billboards' sure generate more word of mouth advertising than a real billboard would, for a fraction of cost. When concerts came to town, we'd have country singers autograph them, and then either give them away or auction them off for charity. Those, which were often bought by business owners, are on prominent display in bars and pubs around area. This is just one small example of how word-of-mouth advertising can explode through a small item.
| | Trade Show Events - Do's and Don'tsWritten by Patty Stripes
You can love it or you can hate it but there is no escaping trade shows in a business environment. If you happen to be in Sales and Marketing division in an industry where trade shows are a part of marketing plan, it is more than likely than not that you will be involved in them sooner or later.Trade shows have been an excellent forum for generating awareness of products and services of a company as well as generating leads in short run. If you are an entrepreneur or a sales professional entrusted with task of participating in a trade show, you should consider two major points while choosing perfect trade show booth: Location and neighbourhood. The perfect mix of these two criteria is likely to get you maximum bang for your buck. o Location is everything. Try and get in early in tradeshows which features regularly in your company's calendar to get good exhibit spots. Corner booths with two sides open are ones which are snapped up fastest. Location is probably most critical aspect to consider in a trade show and it is really a no-brainer when you recall all trade shows which you have been to as a visitor and have skipped most of booths placed at end of aisle. Some of don'ts while choosing location are: o Don't choose booth next to food outlets or conference hall entrances as none of people heading in these two directions are usually interested in booths. They are most likely making a bee-line to food court to beat lunch crowd or are running late for a conference. It is a sad sight to see visitors rush past your stall headed o Don't pick booth near equipment areas or loading bays even if you are getting a two-sided open booth. Need I elaborate this? Audio equipment put near your booth is likely to drown your voice most of times and nearness to loading bays will result in mostly seeing men in overalls rather than 'real' tradeshow visitors.
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